Seamless mobility in wireless networks

Abstract

For seamless mobility, at least one communication parameter to associate with a BSSID is selected. A beacon is sent from a first access point to advertise its presence, wherein the beacon comprises the BSSID associated with the at least one communication parameter. Responsive to the mobile station choosing the BSSID being advertised in the beacon sent from the first access point, a uniquely assign the BSSID is selected for a mobile station. The first access point from the plurality of access points is associated with the mobile station persistently. Associating is made as selected by the system coordinator, the uniquely assigned BSSID being independent of an identify of mobile station and being eligible for subsequent assignment to a different mobile station as determined by the system coordinator.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method in a system coordinator to provide seamless mobility to an end point in a wireless network by with the use of a persistent, uniquely-assigned BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier), the method comprising:
 selecting at least one communication parameter to associate with a BSSID;   sending a beacon from a first access point to advertise its presence, wherein the beacon comprises the BSSID associated with the at least one communication parameter;   responsive to the mobile station choosing the BSSID being advertised in the beacon sent from the first access point, selecting to uniquely assign the BSSID to a mobile station; and   associating the first access point from the plurality of access points with the mobile station persistently and associating is made as selected by the system coordinator, the uniquely assigned BSSID being independent of an identify of mobile station and being eligible for subsequent assignment to a different mobile station as determined by the system coordinator.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein associating the mobile station comprises:
 associating the mobile station with the first access point in a wireless network using the uniquely-assigned BSSID among a plurality of stored uniquely assigned BSSIDs assigned to a plurality of mobile devices.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein associating the mobile station comprises:
 associating the mobile station with the first access point in a wireless network using the uniquely-assigned BSSID among a plurality of stored uniquely assigned BSSIDs assigned to a plurality of mobile devices, wherein the plurality of stored uniquely-assigned BSSIDs are stored at the first access point to facilitate communication between the first access point and the plurality of mobile devices.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein associating the mobile station comprises:
 associating the mobile station with the first access point among the plurality of access points in the wireless network using the BSSID that is uniquely assigned to the mobile station, wherein the mobile station operates according to a protocol in which the mobile station natively selects access points with which to communicate.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein associating the mobile station further comprises:
 associating the mobile station with the first access point, wherein the mobile station is within range of at least two access points of the plurality of access points.   responsive to load optimization among components of the wireless network, from a global perspective of all mobile devices and all access points, handing-off the mobile station from the first access point to the second access point.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 sending the beacon from the first access point to advertise its presence, wherein the beacon comprises multiple BSSIDs.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein selecting the first access point from the plurality of access points comprises:
 selecting the first access point from the plurality of access points based on characteristics of communication by the mobile station.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the mobile station should be handed-off from the first access point to the second access point among the plurality of access points:
 determining that the mobile station should be handed-off from the first access point to the second access point among the plurality of access points to change an interference pattern of the plurality of access points for optimizing aggregate utilization of a shared spectrum.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprises the uniquely-assigned BSSID from a plurality of persistent, uniquely-assigned BSSIDs to associate with the mobile station based on one or more communication parameters of the uniquely-assigned BSSID selected from the group of:
 access control parameters, backoff or retry parameters, channel selection parameters, QoS parameters, and transit power parameters.   
     
     
         10 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 selecting at least one communication parameter to associate with a BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier);   sending a beacon from an access point to advertise its presence, wherein the beacon comprises the BSSID associated with the at least one communication parameter;   uniquely assigning the BSSID to a mobile station, the BSSID being advertised in the beacon and being independent of an identity of the mobile station for subsequent assignment of a different mobile station.   associating a mobile station with a first access point among a plurality of access points in a wireless network for communication using BBSID;   
     
     
         11 . At least one non-transitory computer program product that when executed by a processor performs a method in a system coordinator to provide seamless mobility to an end point in a wireless network by with the use of a persistent, uniquely-assigned BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier), the method comprising:
 selecting at least one communication parameter to associate with a BSSID;   sending a beacon from a first access point to advertise its presence, wherein the beacon comprises the BSSID associated with the at least one communication parameter;   responsive to the mobile station choosing the BSSID being advertised in the beacon sent from the first access point, selecting to uniquely assign the BSSID to a mobile station; and   associating the first access point from the plurality of access points with the mobile station persistently and associating is made as selected by the system coordinator, the uniquely assigned BSSID being independent of an identify of mobile station and being eligible for subsequent assignment to a different mobile station as determined by the system coordinator.   
     
     
         12 . A system coordinator to provide seamless mobility to an end point in a wireless network by controlling soft handoffs of the end point among access points with the use of a persistent, uniquely-assigned BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier), comprising:
 a process; and   a memory, comprising:
 a first module to select at least one communication parameter to associate with a BSSID; 
 a second module to send a beacon from a first access point to advertise its presence, wherein the beacon comprises the BSSID associated with the at least one communication parameter; 
 a third module to responsive to the mobile station choosing the BSSID being advertised in the beacon sent from the first access point, select to uniquely assign the BSSID to a mobile station; and 
 a fourth module to associate the first access point from the plurality of access points with the mobile station wherein associating comprises using the uniquely-assigned BSSID with the mobile station persistently and associating is made as selected by the system coordinator, the uniquely assigned BSSID being independent of an identify of mobile station and being eligible for subsequent assignment to a different mobile station as determined by the system coordinator.